THIS IS WHY I HATE ROBERT ALTMAN
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Druffmaul — 9 years ago(October 19, 2016 12:58 PM)
Almost every quote is "an incomplete truth." It's always one little sentence extracted from a paragraph that was part of a huge speech or whatever, taken out of context. This one was a Freudian slip that's pretty amusing to folks who think Reagan was a bit of a dunderhead and a lout. Deal with it.
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Druffmaul — 9 years ago(October 20, 2016 12:08 PM)
you refuse to acknowledge that Reagan simply misused two words and realized it. You are a stubborn ass.
But I do acknowledge that. My only assertion here is that "Facts are stupid things" is in fact a statement that came directly out of Ronald Reagan's mouth, and therefore is a legitimate quote. I know you'll never accept that, because you just tried to project your own stubbornness onto me. -
nelliewilson — 13 years ago(October 09, 2012 11:54 AM)
"and treat a young Korean boy as a slave."
Hahaha. The Korean boy made martinis. Not exactly slave labor. And he wasn't being forced. If real slaves would only be so lucky.
" The rug really tied the room together, did it not? " -
DreTam2000 — 13 years ago(February 16, 2013 08:35 PM)
I much prefer his older films like McCabe & Mrs Miller and The Long Kiss Goodnight to those more recent
I'm a bit confused here. I just had a look at the Director's resume and could not locate one of the films you mention here. Could you direct me to the film you speak of called
The Long Kiss Goodnight
? I'm not sure it was listed in his resume.
I'm not a control freak, I just like things my way -
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ExplorerDS6789 — 12 years ago(April 10, 2013 12:15 PM)
What irks me is that Altman went against Ring Lardner's screenplay, and it was a good screenplay too, and just let the actors ad-lib to their hearts' content. He just set up the cameras and said, "say whatever the hell you want."
"It's a loosely weaved bunch of slapstick skits where misogynistic guys sexually harass every female in sight, tell dick jokes and treat a young Korean boy as a slave. If they had only dropped the N word the rainbow of racism and sexism would be complete."
To be fair, that wasn't all Altman's idea, it came from the MASH book where, believe it or not, Hawkeye, Trapper and Duke are even bigger scumbags than they were in the movie. -
HowYaLikeDemApplesWill — 12 years ago(August 04, 2013 08:05 AM)
If the Academy voters didn't like the movie version, whether it "stuck" to the screenplay or not, Lardner would never have won the Oscar for Best Screenplay.
It is pretty common for authors of novels to not be happy with how Hollywood has turned their baby into a movie: they didn't stick to the story, they trimmed parts of the book that don't translate well to the screen, etc
It is also fairly common that there is often tension between screenwriters and directors, in that the ultimate vision for a movie is in the hands of the director, not the screenwriter. Also, many directors are also themselves screenwriters, so will then apply their own "edits" to a screenplay, whether they wrote it or not.
Here is what the author of the book MASH Richard Hooker had to say in April 1977:
I thought the movie was great but the television thing isn't my kind of humor. It's someone else's idea of what medical humor is supposed to be.
So apparently the author of the original material that the screenplay was based upon, thought it was great.
Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it? -
HowYaLikeDemApplesWill — 12 years ago(August 05, 2013 05:56 AM)
Interesting, never heard the 80% before, although it is clear with the overlapping dialogue much is ad-libbed.
From Wikipedia, although without citation:
The screenplay, by Ring Lardner, Jr., is radically different from the original novel; in the DVD audio commentary, Altman describes the novel as "pretty terrible" and somewhat "racist" (the only major black character has the nickname "Spearchucker"). He claims that the screenplay was used only as a springboard. However, the screenplay itself reveals that, while there is some improvisation in the film, and although Altman moved major sequences around, most sequences are in the screenplay.
Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it? -
GBDaddy — 12 years ago(January 01, 2014 10:57 PM)
Frankly, I could give a rat's patooty about Altman's style or abilities. This film was about the characters and actors, as someone else pointed out.
I don't know factually (apart from what I'm guessing as true from the above post) how much was ad-libbed, but the film certainly felt like there was a fair amount of improv. Sutherland and Gould are certainly capable of good improv (as are a few other actors). Duvall, of course, has serious acting skills and likabilityalthough I don't recall any particular improv history.
Although Kellerman's character (and/or her) got on my nerves early on, I ultimately enjoyed the character in the end. Maybe she just has one of those faces and styles you grow into.
I've watched this film many times over the last 2 decades. It seems that with each watching (and as I age), I find different things funny. The humor is not simply slapstick and crude. There's is actually some quick wit that some might not pick up on.